Announcements
The 53rd UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs
The 53rd session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) was held March 8-12 in Vienna. This year, the Commission addressed opioid availability for medical and scientific purposes while continuing to discuss raising awareness about the risks of abusing drugs; improving the understanding of drug addiction as a chronic health disorder; and the importance of research and data collection.
In opening remarks, Antonio Maria Costa, the Executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), stated "And much more is on the drawing board. We must not only stop the harm caused by drugs: let's unleash the capacity of drugs to do good. You think this is a radical idea? Look back to the origins of drug control. The Preamble of the Single Convention recognizes that … the medical use of narcotic drugs continues to be indispensable for the relief of pain… This is hardly the language of a prohibitionist regime. Indeed, this noble goal of UN drug policy, the freedom from physical pain, demonstrates our over-riding commitment to health." He urged Member States to overcome cultural and socio-economic factors "that deny a Nigerian suffering from AIDS or a Mexican cancer patient the morphine that is offered to Italian or American counterparts". He also promised that "UNODC is mobilizing attention to deal with a real tragedy that can be handled easily within current drug control policy -- and not as a back-door to drug legalization." Costa refers to a note he released at the Commission, "Drug control, crime prevention and criminal justice: A Human Rights perspective," which he calls "an innovative, trend-setting document on our thinking on the issue." [ http://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND-Uploads/CND-53-RelatedFiles/ECN72010_CRP6eV1051605.pdf ]
Costa also appealed for greater respect for human rights. "As human beings, as well as members of the community of civilized nations, we have a shared responsibility to put an end to this. People who use drugs, or are behind bars, have not lost their humanity or their human rights". Executive Director Costa's full speech can be viewed at http://www.unodc.org/documents/frontpage/CND_Costa_Speech_08_03_10.pdf .
The week-long session of the Commission included consideration of draft resolutions, including a very important one titled, "Promoting adequate availability of internationally controlled licit drugs for medical and scientific purposes while preventing their diversion and abuse."
[ http://www.unodc.org/documents/commissions/CND-Uploads/CND-53-RelatedFiles/ECN72010_L6Rev1EV1051780.pdf ]
This resolution, sponsored by the United States of America, was adopted without objections, and with many countries signed on as co-sponsors, including: Argentina, Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Spain (on behalf of the European Union), and Uruguay. Under agenda item 9c, six countries made statements on availability of controlled medications: Germany, Switzerland, the US, the UK, the Netherlands and Colombia. Each statement emphasized the importance of having opioid medications available for pain treatment; the UK also discussed drug treatment. Last year, only two countries contributed to the agenda item (UK and Switzerland) so we are seeing some progress, although not as much as we had hoped for. Colombia’s representative mentioned the efforts developed by IAHPC, in collaboration with other organizations, in this area and the workshop organized by IAHPC in Lima announced in the last edition of this NL .
http://www.hospicecare.com/news/10/03/
Prof Rosa Buitrago from Panama, Dr Henry Ddungu from Uganda, and IAHPC Board member, Dr MR Rajagopal from India, met with Mr Costa, the executive director of UNODC and UNODC staff, briefing them on the situation in their countries. Mr Costa and staff confirmed that they are working on a document on medical availability of opioids. The following day, Mr Costa quoted Dr Rajagopal in a meeting with NGOs and mentioned that fewer than 4% of patients with moderate to severe pain in India have access to opioid analgesics.
Congratulations to these individuals and to Humans Right Watch, the World Health Organization and the UICC for their work on this initiative.
Liliana De Lima, MHA, Executive Director of IAHPC
Scientific articles and reviews from the literature compiled by the National Health Service, UK
Dear colleague,
Each month there is a wide range of new items added to the NHS Evidence specialist collection on supportive and palliative care. From last month’s list of entries, Dr Jason Boland has selected those which may be of particular interest (see below). Jason is a specialist registrar in palliative medicine, undertaking research for a PhD in Sheffield. He can be contacted via: [email protected]
Users who cannot easily access the web links below from their email software should access the full list via the link near the top of the home page: http://www.library.nhs.uk/palliative/ or See the full lists of new records added each month
Best wishes,
Dr. Richard Stevens, Project Manager, NHS Evidence - supportive and palliative care
University of Sheffield, Academic Unit of Supportive Care,
Sykes House, Little Common Lane,
Sheffield, South Yorkshire,
S11 9NE, UK
Telephone: 0114 262 0174
Email: [email protected]
www.library.nhs.uk/palliative/
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/supportive-and-palliative-care-evidence.html
www.shef.ac.uk/medicine/staff/rstevens.html
NHS Evidence - supportive and palliative care
March 2010 Bulletin
Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE)
National Library of Guidelines
American Academy of Neurology:
Some of the items added to the 'Evidence in the News' RSS feed last month
www.library.nhs.uk/palliative/
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/supportive-and-palliative-care-evidence.html
www.shef.ac.uk/medicine/staff/rstevens.html
Oral opioids are now available in Belize
It is with great joy that the Belize Hospice Palliative Care Foundation (BHPCF) announces that God in His goodness heard our prayers and now oral opioids are available in Belize.
In 2007, we started lobbying with the National Chief Pharmacist to make several oral opioids (hydromorphone, oxycodone, and morphine) available in this country. However, we did not gain ground until late 2008 when Liliana de Lima from IAHPC met with us along with Peter Allen, the CEO of the ministry of Health. This meeting resulted in Dr. Allen committing to having these medications available in Belize. During 2009 they were inscribed into the Belize National Drug Formulary, but it was not until February 2010 that the agents were actually accessible through the Belize Central Medical Supplies to doctors for prescription.
The BHPCF is very grateful to Liliana for caring so much about our people, Dr. Peter Allen for being the first CEO of the Ministry of Health of Belize to champion the palliative care needs in the country of Belize, and Dr. Natalia Beer maternal-child health director for also championing the availability of these drugs.
The BHPCF is also very thankful to each one of its members for not getting discouraged and for persevering during the past years when we had so little to give our patients.
Our work is only just begun.
Dr. Beatriz Thompson
Update on Compassionate Passages, Inc.
Compassionate Passages, Inc. is a non-profit organization with a mission to improve pediatric end-of-life care by giving a voice to dying children and their families through advocacy, education, and research. Our work encompasses authoring chapters/articles on pediatric palliative care and bereavement issues for textbooks/newsletters/websites; meeting representatives in Washington DC about upcoming legislation; training healthcare staff via GR/workshops; and conducting surveys/focus groups/ethnographies among patients/families and healthcare teams to enhance care, influence policy/procedures, and assist in developing resources.
Below are some specific examples of our work:
● From more than 1,000 applicants, Compassionate Passages was recently selected as one of a hundred small, US-based companies to receive a 2010 British Airways Business Opportunity Grant to help develop our international partnerships. This one-year grant will provide us with travel on BA plus other products/services to support our business. http://businessgrants.ba.com/grants/winners We are headed to Cape Town in April to collaborate with our African colleagues on research and training as they create pediatric palliative care programs.
● We authored a chapter on Infant Death in Children’s Encounters With Death, Bereavement, and Coping. The book was edited by Charles Corr and David Balk and published by Springer in January 2010.
● During 2008-09 we were consultants on an NIH-funded project, Communic-Aid: Supporting Communication Needs for Families with Terminally Ill Children. This comprehensive resource for parents and direct care providers is being developed and evaluated to support family communication with school-age children who have a life-threatening illness.
● Compassionate Passages co-authored a chapter on Family-Centered Care for a graduate level textbook, Patient Advocacy for Health Care Quality: Strategies for Achieving Patient-Centered Care, which was published by Jones and Bartlett in July 2007. This book is distinctive from others in that it focuses on the consumer perspective and its emphasis on how advocacy can influence change at multiple levels. http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/9780763749613/
● We were principal investigators on a team of University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill physicians that evaluated counseling methods about end-of-life care decisions. We developed two survey instruments, conducted interviews among physicians and patients, and the results were published in Pediatrics in 2005.
● Our award-winning educational film, When a Child is Dying, and accompanying Supportive Care Handbook are training tools for healthcare staff/students and being used in hospitals, hospices, universities and communities across the U.S and around the globe. The Handbook includes a discussion guide , specific ways to support, and other resources. The film/handbook received a 4-Star/Exceptional rating from the End of Life/Palliative Education Resource Center (EPERC) and is used in the Pediatric Palliative Care Training Program conducted by the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC). www.compassionatepassages.org/video.htm
● We present the pediatric patient/family point of view at a variety of conferences around the world
Compassionate Passages, Inc. was founded by Beth Seyda and Ann Fitzsimons in 2001. Beth and Ann each have 25+ years of consumer/marketing research and consulting experience with Fortune 500 companies. Compassionate Passages partners with organizations in their local communities (Chapel Hill-Durham-Raleigh, NC and Detroit metro area, MI), across the U.S., and internationally. www.compassionatepassages.org Please contact Beth to discuss any pediatric palliative care projects: [email protected]
The Platform Ticket by Dr. Derek Doyle translated into Portuguese
We wish to congratulate Derek Doyle on the recent translation of his popular book The Platform Ticket into Portuguese. This was undertaken by Dr. Tullio de Assis Figuiredo, a former IAHPC Board member, and his wife, Maria das Gracas who live in São Paulo, Brazil. There was a ceremony on March 24 th during which the book was released.
Thank you Dr. Marco Tullio and your lovely wife for undertaking this project.
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